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(Session 08, May 31: Analysing Rebecca I - Film Noir, Gothic Romance, and the Apparitional Lesbian)
(Session 08, May 31: Analysing Rebecca I - Film Noir, Gothic Romance, and the Apparitional Lesbian)
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* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Whispers_from_the_Closet/Castle_ApparitionalLesbian_Intro_gesichert.pdf?v=1677834125 Castle, Terry. "Introduction." ''The Apparitional Lesbian: Female Homosexuality and Modern Culture''. New York: Columbia UP, 1993. 23-20. Print.]
 
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Whispers_from_the_Closet/Castle_ApparitionalLesbian_Intro_gesichert.pdf?v=1677834125 Castle, Terry. "Introduction." ''The Apparitional Lesbian: Female Homosexuality and Modern Culture''. New York: Columbia UP, 1993. 23-20. Print.]
 
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Whispers_from_the_Closet/White_UnInvited_FemaleSpectatorLesbianSpecter_gesichert.pdf?v=1677843921 White, Patricia. "Female Spectator, Lesbian Specter." ''UnInvited: Classical Hollywood Cinema and Lesbian Representability''. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana UP, 1999.61-93. Print.]
 
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Whispers_from_the_Closet/White_UnInvited_FemaleSpectatorLesbianSpecter_gesichert.pdf?v=1677843921 White, Patricia. "Female Spectator, Lesbian Specter." ''UnInvited: Classical Hollywood Cinema and Lesbian Representability''. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana UP, 1999.61-93. Print.]
 
  
 
'''Guiding Questions'''
 
'''Guiding Questions'''

Revision as of 11:01, 10 March 2023

!!! UNDER CONSTRUCTION !!!


COURSE OUTLINE

3.02.150 S Whispers from the Closet: Representing the "Unspeakable" in Literature and Film

  • [Module] Motifs - Themes - Issues (and their Media)
  • [Credits] 6 KP
  • [Instructor] Dr. Christian Lassen
  • [Time] Wednesday, 08.15 am - 09.45 am, weekly session, consisting of the following two parts: plenary session, discussing the asynchronous presentation (8.15 am - 9.30 am); and prepararory session for presentation groups (9.30 am - 9.45 am); nota bene: presentations will not be given in class but they will be made available on Stud.IP the Friday before they are scheduled, i.e. watching the presentations prior to the relevant sessions constitues a mandatory course requirement.
  • [Room] A01 0-009
  • [Description] Inquiries into mainstream culture's representations of otherness are of key relevance for an academic field like literary and cultural studies, whose principal claims are based on the idea that culture has an all-encompassing influence on identity formation, both collective and individual, and that, consequently, our identities and our sense of self do not come from inside ourselves so much as from a pre-existing culture that determines intelligible ways of living, while it disciplines allegedly unintelligible ones. In other words, it is through cultural representations – and thus largely through novels, plays, and movies, etc. - that we learn what it means to be different in a normative culture. And paradoxical as it may sound, when it comes to sexual difference, this learning process was, up until the end of the twentieth century, largely informed by misrepresentation, or even non-representation, as the vigilant influence of censorship and anti-gay legations banned examples of queer life and queer role models to a space of virtual invisibility: the closet. While the Lord Chamberlain's Office and the BBFC (British Board of Film Censors) monitored Britain's theatres and her film industry closely, the Motion Picture Production Code, or Hays Code, meticulously classified a number of violations, including "sex perversion" and other allegedly undesirable contents, deemed inappropriate or even offensive in classical Hollywood cinema. Unsurprisingly, these institutions took ample liberties to rewrite, distort, or even delete material in order to render queer life, or at least positive images of queer life, invisible. As a result, any kind of (positive self-) identification with queer cultural role models was obliterated. And yet, writing under the influence of censorship and anti-gay legislations allowed many nineteenth- and twentieth-century novelists, playwrights, and filmmakers to develop and explore the numerous subtle ways by which "unspeakable" lesbian and gay subtexts could be communicated and placed in a text. Bargaining on the deep gulf between queer knowledge and heteronormative incomprehension (and thus on the truism that 'it takes one to know one'), these artists made use of various genres (Victorian gothic; horror; film noir; seafaring tales; westerns; musicals; boarding school dramas; etc.), various stock characters (the double; the 'handsome sailor'; the 'apparitional' lesbian; the femme fatale; the tomboy; the 'artistic' teenager; etc.), and various modes of performativity (camp; parody; pastiche; intertextuality; etc.) to undermine the regimes of censorship and to render queer characters visible – at least between the lines. In order to analyse the management of (non-) knowledge and compulsory (in-)comprehension that govern the open-secret structures of the closet, we are going to take a closer look at the contexts and the specific formal and function designs of R.L. Stevenson's Victorian gothic novel Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Herman Melville's seafaring tale Billy Budd, Sailor, Alfred Hitchcock's film noir classic Rebecca (based on the eponymous novel by Daphne du Maurier); David Butler's western musical Calamity Jane (starring Doris Day); and Peter Weir's boarding school film Dead Poets Society. In addition, the documentary film The Celluloid Closet (based on Vito Russo's pioneering study of the same title) will provide as with a historical overview of the representation of homosexuality in the movies.
  • [Office Hours] Tuesday, 11.00 am - 12.00 am


PRIMARY TEXTS (Mandatory Texts)

Novellas:

  • Stevenson, Robert Louis. 1886. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales. Oxford: OUP, 2008. Print.
  • Melville, Herman. 1924 [1891]. Billy Budd, Sailor and Selected Tales. Oxford: OUP, 2009. Print.

Documentary Features:

  • The Celluloid Closet. [dt. Gefangen in der Traumfabrik.] Dir. Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. HBO, 1995. Pro Fun Media, 2004.

Movies:

  • Rebecca. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Perf. Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, Judith Anderson. United Artists, 1940. Alfred Hitchcock Collection. Great Movies, 2015. DVD.
  • Calamity Jane. [dt. Schwere Colts in Zarter Hand.] Dir. David Butler. Perf. Doris Day and Howard Keel. Warner Bros., 1953. Warner Home Video, 2020. DVD.
  • Dead Poets Society. [dt. Der Club der toten Dichter.] Dir. Peter Weir. Perf. ‎ Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke. Touchstone, 1989. Disney Home Entertainment, 2002. DVD.


ASSIGNMENTS

  • [Prüfungsleistung] asynchrones (Gruppen-)Referat (max. 5 Personen; ca. 20 Folien) mit Schriftlicher Ausarbeitung (10 Seiten) [oder in Ausnahmefällen: Hausarbeit (15 Seiten)]
  • [Aktive Teilnahme] Regular Attendance (cf. Richtlinien der Fakultät III, Studiendekanat), Course Preparation (i.e. watching the asynchronous presentations), 4 Abstracts

Please note that written assignments (abstracts, short term papers, long term papers) need to be composed according to the style sheet ("Leitfaden") of the University of Oldenburg, which can be accessed via the 'Institutswiki'-page of the English department. The style sheet not only provides relevant information on how to write a correct bibliography but it may also help you to structure your work according to academic standards.

Please make sure to sign the "Erklärung zum 'Plagiat'" and to attach it to your research papers.

  • [Abgabefrist] 15. September 2023.





Session 01, April 12: Introduction

Organisational Matters

  • Assignments

Assignments are graded and mandatory. In order to obtain 6 credits (KP), you will have to give an asynchronous (group) presentation (Referat, 20 Folien) on one of the presentation topics specified in the syllabus. In addition to that, you will have to hand in a short term paper (Ausarbeitung, 10 Seiten) by the end of term (15. September). In exceptional cases, you may hand in a long term paper (Hausarbeit, 15 Seiten) instead of the above. However, an exception is only granted upon consultation.

  • Presentation Topics, Presentation Groups

Presentation Topics are specified in your syllabus. In order to prepare your presentations, please pick a topic, get together in groups (see below) and write up a power-point presentation. Add your audio commentary to the presentation, save the file and send it on to me so that we can discuss your presentation during your preparatory session before you upload it. After that, you make your file available on Stud.IP on the Friday before your presentation is due so that all participants can read/ watch the presentation in time, i.e. before the session.

Requests regarding your choice of presentation topics can be send to me via e-mail, starting on Monday, April 03. Please send me three possible presentation topics and prioritise them according to your preferences. I will sign you in in the order of the requests' arrival. Please check this page regularly to see if your requests have been met.

Preparatory Sessions for presentations take place in the second part of the weekly sessions, i.e. Wednesday 9.30 am - 9.45 am. Please make sure that you send me your presentation at least one day prior to your preparatory session and that you attend said session the week before your presentation is due.

  • Active Participation

Active Participation is ungraded but mandatory. In order to fulfil the requirements, you will have to attend class regularly and watch the asynchronous presentations prior to the relevant sessions. Moreover, you will have to write four abstracts, each including a topic, a state of research, a thesis statement, and a brief outline of your argument (approx. 1 page), in the course of the seminar. You can choose your own topic; however: all abstracts have to address different primary texts. In other words, your abstracts will have to cover four out of five primary materials. They are due by the end of the week (i.e. Friday) that marks the ending of the respective sections, i.e. due date Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: May 5; due date Billy Budd, Sailor: May 19; due date Rebecca: June 9; due date Calamity Jane June 23; due date Dead Poets Society July 7)

   Summary: Presentations

1. Pick a presentation topic and contact me via e-mail (starting April 03). Check below for available places. Presentation groups may consist of a maximum of 5 people.

2. Contact the other members of your group and prepare your presentation, i.e. power-point presentation with audio commentary.

3. Send me your presentation 8 days before your presentation is scheduled.

4. Discuss your presentation with me in your preparatory session 7 days, i.e week, before your presentation is scheduled. Preparatory sessions take place during the second part of class, i.e. Wednesday 9.30 am - 9.45 am.

5. Upload your file on the Friday before your presentation is scheduled.

6. Be ready to answer questions on the day of your presentation.

Session 02, April 19: Theory Session I - Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's Epistemology of the Closet

Theory Texts

  • Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. Epistemology of the Closet. Berkeley and Los Angeles: U of California P, 1990. Print. (Excerpts)

Further Reading

  • Miller, D.A. The Novel and the Police. Berkeley and Los Angeles: U of California P, 1988.

Guiding Questions

  • TBA

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group:

Session 03, April 26: Analysing Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde I - Victorian Gothic Fiction and the Queer Double

Primary Material

  • Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Guiding Questions

  • TBA

Presentation

  • "The thorough and primitive duality of man," or: Sexual Identities, Homosexual Panic, the Double, and the Externalisation of Same-Sex Desire in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
  • Presentation Group:

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group:

Session 04, May 03: Analysing Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde II - Metonymies and Topographies of Same-Sex Desire

Primary Material

  • Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Guiding Questions

  • TBA

Presentation

  • "Black Mail House is what I call the place with the door," or: the Body, the House, and the Street as Metonymies of Same-Sex Desire in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
  • Presentation Group:

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group:

Session 05, May 10: Analysing Billy Budd, Sailor I - Seafaring Novels and the Handsome Sailor

Primary Material

  • Melville, Herman, Billy Budd, Sailor.

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Guiding Questions

  • TBA

Presentation

  • Homosocial Spaces, Homoerotic Desires, and the Ship as Heterotopia par excellence
  • Presentation Group:

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group:

Session 06, May 17: Analysing Billy Budd, Sailor II - Narratology and the Management of (Non-)Knowledge

Primary Material

  • Melville, Herman. Billy Budd, Sailor.

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Guiding Questions

  • TBA

Presentation

  • "What was the matter with the master-at-arms?", or: Open-Secret Structures, Compulsory (In-)Comprehension, and Terrorising Narrative Designs in Billy Budd, Sailor
  • Presentation Group:

Session 07, May 24, Theory Session II - Vito Russo's The Celluloid Closet

Theory Texts

Further Reading

  • Benshoff and Grifin. Queer Images
  • Benshoff, Harry M. Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film. Manchester, Manchester UP, 1997. Print.
  • Dyer, Richard. Now You See It: Studies on Lesbian and Gay Film. London and New York: Routledge, 1990. Print.
  • Russo, Vito. The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies. Revised Edition. New York et al.: Harper & Row, 1987. Print.

Guiding Questions

  • TBA

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group:

Session 08, May 31: Analysing Rebecca I - Film Noir, Gothic Romance, and the Apparitional Lesbian

Primary Material

  • Hitchcock, Alfred, dir. Rebecca

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Guiding Questions

  • TBA

Presentation

  • TBA
  • Presentation Group:

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group:

Session 09, June 07: Analysing Rebecca II - Narration, Focalisation, and Heteronormative Incomprehension

Primary Material

  • Hitchcock, Alfred, dir. Rebecca

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Guiding Questions

  • TBA

Presentation

  • TBA
  • Presentation Group:

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group:

Session 10, June 14: Analysing Calamity Jane I - Westerns, Musicals, and the Tomboy

Primary Material

  • Butler, David, dir. Calamity Jane

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Guiding Questions

  • TBA

Presentation

  • "Once I Had a Secret Love," or: 'Gay' Songs, Lesbian Subtexts, and the Queering of the Western Genre in Calamity Jane
  • Presentation Group:

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group:

Session 11, June 21: Analysing Calamity Jane II - Camp Attacks on the Western Genre

Primary Material

  • Butler, David, dir. Calamity Jane

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Guiding Questions

  • TBA

Presentation

  • "A Woman's Touch," or: Camp, Theatricality, and the Parodic Subversion of Heteronormative Gender Performmances in Calamity Jane
  • Presentation Group:

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group:

Session 12, June 28: Analysing Dead Poets Society I - All-Male Boarding School Films and the "Artistic" Teenager

Primary Material

  • Weir, Peter, dir. Dead Poets Society

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Guiding Questions

  • TBA

Presentation

  • Disavowing the "Barbaric Yawp"?, or: Nostalgia, Elitism, and the Exploitative Silencing of Otherness in Dead Poets Society
  • Presentation Group:

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group:

Session 13, July 05: Analysing Dead Poets Society - Homosocial Genres and Homoerotic Intertexts

Primary Material

  • Weir, Peter, dir. Dead Poets Society

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Guiding Questions

  • TBA

Presentation

  • Universalising Dead Poets, or: Shakespeare, Whitman, and the Unqueer Representation of Queer Intertexts and Genres in Dead Poets Society
  • Presentation Group:

Preparatory Session

  • Preparatory Session Group:

Session 14, July 12: RPO Session

Guidelines for finding your RPO topic:

Your RPO topic needs to be related to at least one of the primary texts

   September 15: Term Paper Due

Please upload your paper to the folder "Ausarbeitungen und Hausarbeiten" on our Stud.IP page and send a printed copy to the address below.

Bitte stellen Sie Ihre Prüfungsleistung in den Ordner "Ausarbeitungen und Hausarbeiten" auf unserer Stud.IP-Seite ein und senden Sie eine gedruckte Fassung an die untenstehende Adresse.

Dr. Christian Lassen

Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik

Fakultät III: Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaften

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

Ammerländer Heerstraße 114-118

26129 Oldenburg